Draft Prospect: WR Brandin Cooks

Hello again readers! As I am writing this, there are only 62 days left until the NFL Draft, so I thought that I would take a look at another potential Chiefs draft prospect, Oregon State Wide Receiver Brandon Cooks. At the combine today, Cooks posted a 36” vertical jump, and ran a 4.33s 40 yard dash. Those are both very impressive statistics, and will only improve Cooks’ draft stock. But to get a better idea of whether or not the Chiefs should use one of their draft picks on him, let’s take a closer look at what Cooks did during his time at Oregon State.

One thing that I really like about Cooks is the fact that his statistics improved every season that he was at Oregon State. This year he caught in a whopping 128 passes for 1730 yards, and 16 TD’s. What Cooks lacks in height (he came into the combine at 5’10” 189lbs.) he makes up for with elite speed(he had the fastest 40 yard dash time of the WR’s) which he used to help him get into the end zone. His top end speed will also make defenses think twice about playing press coverage, and he will likely demand the attention of a safety at all times. Cooks also has a very nice set of hands, and didn’t struggle with dropping passes during his collegiate career. Another thing that stood out to me when watching Cooks was his ability to adjust to poorly thrown balls. Consistently when the ball wasn’t placed well Cooks would contort his body, and find a way to come down with the catch. This trait will translate well in the NFL, and could help make Cooks a starter from day one. Cooks was part of a well balanced passing attack at Oregon State, and ran a wide variety of routes during his time there. Not only did he run a lot of different routes, but he ran them very well, and the depth and timing of his routes was impressive. Cooks would serve as a multi-purpose player for the Chiefs; he displayed his abilities to be an explosive punt returner, and could fill that position should Dexter McCluster leave the team via free agency this offseason. While there are a lot of positives to Cooks game, it does have its flaws. Let’s take a look at some of the cons in Brandin Cooks game.

The major concern for Brandin Cooks is his ability to stay healthy in the NFL. Cooks suffered very few injuries while at Oregon State, but scouts still worry about his long term health at the next level. Cooks also needs to work on his decision making after the catch. Far too often Cooks would run backwards in an effort to evade defenders, and end up losing yardage in the process. Another thing that Cooks needs to work on is his ability to come down with the ball in tight coverage. Cooks seemed to struggle to catch the ball when a defender was draped all over him, but he’ll have to start doing that on a more consistent basis if he wants to retain a starting job in the NFL. If Cooks can improve on these few things, he could become a very good receiver in the NFL. In a year with so many good Wide Receiver prospects, it’s going to be interesting to see which receivers begin to separate themselves from the pack. Cooks certainly took a step in the right direction today with his outstanding performance at the combine.

So what do you guys think? Would you rather have a small speed demon like Cooks, a big bodied jump ball receiver like Kelvin Benjamin or Mike Evans, or draft to fill a need at another position entirely? Whatever direction you think the Chiefs should go be sure to let me know whether it be in the comments section of this post, or on twitter (@KC_Smallz is my account). Feel free to ask me any football related question that you may have. Last, but certainly not least,